Safety does not improve by putting up more posters, but by changing what is tolerated. These are the practices that have actually reduced incidents on our sites.
Site safety does not fail for lack of regulation. It fails because in day-to-day work people tolerate what the procedure forbids: climbing without a harness because it is only a moment, not signing an area off because it takes longer.
What does work
Real authority for the safety officer
If the safety officer can stop the works without justifying themselves to the production manager, their judgement is respected. If they need permission, it is worthless.
A five-minute daily review
Before starting, the foreman goes over the specific risks of the day. It is not a generic talk: it is what could happen today on this front.
A visible record, not a filed one
Incidents and near misses are discussed at the weekly meeting. A near miss is free information: it lets you correct things before somebody gets hurt.
The culture shift
The moment safety genuinely improves is when a worker stops their own task because something is not safe, and nobody questions them for it. Getting there takes time and consistency from management.
Result
Eight years without a serious accident. It has not been luck: it has been insisting on the boring things, every day.